The editorial is strategic. The clashes within Syria are tactical. We've had US Army-trained rebels torture and kill CIA-trained rebels in Syria; it's a complicated little mess with a constantly-shifting set of factions attempting to eke out advantage over each other. Do a Google image search for "factions in Syria" and see if it makes you more or less confused.

Chechnyans are Russian citizens and they hate the shit out of Russia. They fight with ISIS, they fight with Al Qaeda, they fight with whatever so long as it fucks the Russians over. Hemingway fought in the Spanish Civil War; that didn't mean the US picked a side.

But if Israel decides it wants to exert some influence things'll get interesting.

Yeah, I guess the most important part of the op-ed is the epilogue/disclaimer:

Ronen Bergman, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs at Yedioth Ahronoth, is the author, most recently, of “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations.”

I broke my own rule of researching opinion piece authors prior to ingesting the article.

Oh yeah. That there be the Israelis telegraphing their discomfort with the status quo. Pretty much the AIPAC bat signal.

That said, nothing in there is factually incorrect. Israel, when feeling cornered, gives no fucks. This is just a delicate reminder to those august 538 individuals beholden to their money that the world continues in its orbit regardless of where Rob Porter hangs his hat.